5.  The applicant was born in 1979. At the time of his application to the Court he was detained in prison in Vinnytsya.
6.  On 12 February 2006 an elderly man was found killed in his house in the village of Pavlysh, in the Kirovohrad Region. A criminal investigation was opened by an investigator from the Onufriyivka District Prosecutor’s Office.
7.  On the same day the Onufriyivka District Police Department (“the Police Department”) arrested the applicant under Article 263 of the Administrative Offences Code for minor acts of disorderly conduct, which constituted an administrative offence under Article 173 of that Code. According to the applicant, the police officers over the next two days exerted psychological pressure on him and applied physical violence against him for the purpose of extracting a confession to the murder.
8.  On 14 February 2006 the investigator from the Onufriyivka District Prosecutor’s Office questioned the applicant on suspicion of murder. Before questioning him, the investigator asked the applicant if he wished to have a lawyer. The applicant refused. In the course of the questioning the applicant confessed to the murder.
9.  On 15 February 2006 the applicant participated in a reconstruction of the crime and showed, in the presence of witnesses, how he had committed the murder. Before that investigative measure, the applicant refused to have a lawyer.
10.  On 17 February 2006 the Onufriyivka District Court (“the District Court”) placed the applicant in pre-trial detention.
11.  On 24 February 2006, following a request from the applicant for legal assistance, the investigator offered him a legal-aid lawyer. The applicant refused the lawyer, saying that he wished to have a different one who would be provided by his relatives. On that day the applicant denied his guilt and submitted that he had been psychologically and physically ill-treated by police officers and that this had resulted in his confession.
12.  On 13 June 2006 the applicant was questioned again. He submitted that he would represent himself without a lawyer. He did not admit his guilt and refused to make any further statements.
13.  On 19 June 2006 the case was referred to the District Court for the applicant to be tried.
14.  On 15 August 2006 the District Court remitted the case to the Petrove District Prosecutor for additional investigation. In its reasons for that decision, the court stated that the information about the applicant’s personality, including his prior criminal record, had not been assembled properly; the investigator had ignored the applicant’s request for another lawyer after refusing the legal-aid lawyer; the applicant had not been told of his right to be assisted by a lawyer when examining the case file after the termination of the investigation; and the applicant had not been able to examine all the material in the case file.
15.  On 3 October 2006 the Kirovohrad Regional Court of Appeal (“the Court of Appeal”) upheld the District Court’s decision of 15 August 2006.
16.  On 5 December 2006 the Petrove District Prosecutor provided the applicant with a legal-aid lawyer and also allowed the applicant’s mother to act as defence counsel in the proceedings. When questioned on 12 December 2006 in the presence of the lawyer, the applicant denied his guilt and refused to reply to any further questions.
17.  On 20 February 2007 the Onufriyivka District Prosecutor’s Office refused to institute criminal proceedings against the police officers in relation to the applicant’s allegations of police brutality between 12 and 14 February 2006. Having conducted pre-investigation enquiries, it found no evidence suggesting the applicant had been ill-treated by the officers.
18.  On 23 February 2007 the additional investigation was completed and the case was again referred to the District Court for trial.
19.  During the trial the applicant, who was represented by the legal-aid lawyer, denied the charges and contended that his self-incriminating statements had been obtained by ill-treatment and in breach of his procedural rights.
20.  On 21 June 2007 the District Court found the applicant guilty of murder and sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment. The court based its findings on the real, oral, documentary and expert evidence. The court relied in particular on the applicant’s initial self-incriminating statements, noting that they were consistent with other evidence available in the file. The court considered that the applicant’s subsequent retraction of these statements and denial of guilt were an attempt on his part to avoid punishment.
21.  The District Court also dismissed the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment as unfounded. It had regard to pre-investigation enquiries conducted by the Onufriyivka Prosecutor’s Office, which did not disclose evidence of any criminal acts by the police officers. The court also questioned the investigator and the witnesses who had taken part in the reconstruction of the crime, who also denied the allegations. It reviewed the videotapes of the applicant’s self-incriminating statements and found no signs of ill-treatment.
22.  On the same day, the District Court issued a separate ruling bringing the procedural violations committed by the law-enforcement officers during the pre-trial investigation in the applicant’s case to the attention of the Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor. The court stated in particular that the applicant’s arrest and detention between 12 and 14 February 2006 for the alleged administrative offence had not been lawful, noting that the administrative case had never been examined by a competent authority. No appeal was lodged against that ruling.
23.  The applicant appealed against his conviction. He claimed, inter alia, that his defence rights had not been respected at the initial stage of the investigation and that his self-incriminating statements had been obtained as a result of ill-treatment.
24.  On 15 January 2008 the Kirovohrad Regional Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of 21 June 2007, noting that the applicant’s guilt was well established by various items of evidence in the case file, including the applicant’s initial self-incriminating statements. It dismissed as groundless the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment and violations of his procedural rights. The court further held that the procedural shortcomings identified by the first-instance court did not affect its findings on the substance of the criminal case.
25.  The applicant appealed on points of law, repeating the arguments he made before the Court of Appeal.
26.  On 7 October 2008 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal on points of law as unfounded and upheld the decisions of the lower courts.